I’m not sure if I’m surprised or shocked by the tweet T-Mobile sent out around 6pm tonight announcing the Galaxy S III as the carriers all-time best selling device. That definitely places sales well over the one million mark and then some given the figures that leaked for previous Samsung handsets T-Mobile sold during the Apple/Samsung trial. I admit, the Galaxy S III sounds like an obvious choice, but it wouldn’t have been my first guess, though I really can’t say what else I would have picked.

My own poor guessing game aside, the only question we’re left asking is, what will beat it?

About David Beren

David is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TmoNews.com. He considers himself a Jedi Knight, capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound and a connoisseur of fine cell phones. He has been involved in the wireless industry since 2003 and has been known to swap out phones far too many times in any given year. Should you wish to contact him, you can do so: david@tmonews.com.

Note ]] will beat it. It definitely feels nice in your hands and hardware does take it to the next level.

Buttons

II*

rfgenerator

We will have to see if this is the last top line phone that T-Mobile receives. Wouldn’t surprise me if the S4 is an ATT or Verizon “exclusive”. T-Mobile is obviously already out of favor with both HTC and Nokia

That’s impressive. I’ve been with tmobile since the days of voice steam. I’ve seen many many handsets over the years. I would have figured it to be an old Motorola razr or some nokia. But given Samsung great android and touchscreen this really doesn’t surprise. BTW, I’m using a galaxy s3 32gb right now, so I contributed to that stat for tmobile. Ok the note 2 could also be a huge seller. But until gs4 comes out, s3 is and will be king. Tmo and Samsung FTW!

Titino Lattie

yay if I am patient i would land on SGS4

umad

This will make T-mo to realize that they need better-high end ones to be more successful.

Now, time to convince Nokia, HTC to give 920, One X+, and more.

note_lover

SGN2 and I will be contributing to the sales of that one! It’s going to be a big one for T-Mobile!

The Observer

Its crazy how much tmobile is charging for it though when other carriers sell it for cheaper and other stores like best buy are selling the tmo version for much cheaper than tmo selling themselves

DUDE

buying from third party authorized sellers are normally cheaper than directly buying from corporate carrier retail stores

archerian

They charge more as they have to pay for the extra store reps who sit around watching Youtube on their tablets and have little interest in selling stuff to customers. In other stores, they would quickly be tasked with other stuff and better utilized.

Dakota

So do the other carriers

hughsuck

As a rep I have to say you are a moron, the plans are much lower at TMO and that is why th phones tend to cost more. Plus every company has some employees who dick around. Unless you have been to every store of every carrier don’t make stupid generalizations.

archerian

its called sarcasm, get it? by the way, you said every company has employees who dick around and then to not make generalizations. I have to say looking at that and your profile name, you have some pent up frustration or little comprehension.

Also, the plans being cheaper leads to higher phone costs doesn’t cut it for the Classic Plans, the same devices are cheaper at third party sellers like Costco, are they selling different plans?

Chris

The subsidized price is higher yes. But the outright payment is the same. If not, cheaper. I got my 16 gb gs3 outright for $600. Now a month and a half later they dropped to $549.99.

Dakota

A few weeks ago they had it free on a weeklong online sale. I never understand their Mktg strategy. They often have terrific sales but dint advertise them..even to existing customers.it makes no sense..and it could get them new customers and promote its value. Imagine an ad..for one week, get the best selling phone FREE, esp during the iPhone hype, which could eventually be a boon for T-Mobile if they ever have matching spectrum

Damn, not even the Sidekick line did that? That phone was the shit growing up. everyone had it if not they had a Razr or Nokia

jon

David, sorry to post off topic, but we haven’t heard about that roaming deal with AT&T as part of that breakup fee. What’s the status and how does tmob’s coverage map look with that and the metropcs deal for the next 7 years? Also, how could that impact the iPhone? Will T-Mobile be able to roam on LTE or was that just HSPA+? Thanks!

Okay T-Mobile, you’ve now established that the GS3 is an amazing device, which has sold (and is selling) like crazy. So, why don’t you maybe start selling the GS3 in a color *other* than blue or white? Not sure if AT&T has some sort of exclusive deal with Samsung for the Garnet red color, but that’s the one I myself favor (whilst not favoring AT&T). The other colors are titanium gray, Amber brown, and obsidian/onyx/something or other black. Not the absolute most exciting colorways imaginable, but at least there’s some sort of choice out there. So, T-Mobile, will you offer any of these?

Dakota

It would help refreshen the phone & create new buzz til they get another high end phone..I also don’t find those Carly ads to effectively communicate the truly unlimited plan which could lure more at&t Verizon customers

frigadroid

If they want to keep Carly (because she probably has a contract) then really make her tough have her playing poker & going all in with her unlimited plan. Hire the poker stars (their cheap) like the bratty Phil Hellmuth Karen learnerd etc. Have them all wearing caps phil has the at&t cap on. When Carly shows her hand, a royal flush, Phil has one of his patented hissy fits. Whining about “how can you do that, it’s not possible who plays that way it’s not fair!” Karen in her Verizon cap can say something like “gutsy play kid we totally underestimated you.”
I’ve got my own business to run but for a few G’s on the side I could come up with a better marketing plan than what they got just working on it 5 minutes a day while sitting on the tolite!

k-mack

I like that.

Whiskers

Now if Samsung would make a WP8 with the same high end quality as the SG3 , i think it will set records as well.

Wyn6

They have. It’s called the Ativ S. It’s all but the GSIII.

Whiskers

But the question will be IF T-Mobile will carry it or not.

good ole dats

I have3 upgrades available and was gonna get gs3 but my s2 with stock 4.04 is still great..i may wait and see what’s up with lte

shotokq

it is because the GS3 is the only high end phone that T-mobile ever had for sale in all its history. But they insist in bringing crappy phones to their shelves like all the others that they have including the nokia 710. Now they want to sale the HTC 8X instead of the nokia 920… I say they will loose another 200.000 subscribers… too bad T-Mobile selling junk to their precious customers.

g2a5b0e

Apparently, the 2 phones that kicked off T-Mobile’s HSPA+42 network, the HTC Amaze & the Samsung Galaxy S2 weren’t high end when they debuted.

archerian

That’s right, those phones we killer phones at that time. I don’t think the Amaze really got its full day under the sun, it suddenly disappeared and was replaced by the HTC ONE.

g2a5b0e

The Amaze was an awesome (I was gonna say amaze-ing, but I’ll pass on the pun) phone. It had over 6 months as the top HTC phone on T-Mobile before the One S came out. Unfortunately, it got destroyed by the S2 in sales. Eventually, T-Mobile decided to just discontinue it rather than keep it around since it wasn’t doing so hot. It’s crazy though, because while The Amaze is gone & the One S is down to free on contract, the S2 is still $150 on contract through T-Mobile. What phone still commands that kind of premium price a year after its debut? It’s impressive that it’s still selling well. Samsung is just on a roll, I guess.

The iPhone, if ever offered on T-Mobile, would probably out-do the SG3, easily. #justsaying

BoricuaBoy88

Leave the number sign back on Twitter. It doesn’t make you look any more cool or clever than you already think you are. And keep dreaming on the iPhone being sold by T-Mo. Look no further than Sprint for the evidence of what a bad business decision that would be. T-Mo had their choice: iPhone, or a complete network upgrade. I’d say they chose to spend their money wisely.

TJWINS

I think the HTC 8X and the Nokia Lumia 820 will sell like hotcakes but I’m not sure if they will out-sell the GSIII. The scary part is that the GSIII will still be sold for many months to come so it will be tough for a phone to beat it.

steveb944

Maybe the Note 2 will be the one to do it with the newer features releasing for the holiday season. Given any promotions that may come up for the holidays, it will boost Note 2 sales even more

DrScope

It’s a great phone no doubt but I hope we can get some newer HTC phones in to the T-Mobile lineup. I hope we get the HTC One VX or the One X+.

Dakota

The S is also currently free online

DrScope

4.3″ is so 2011.

ivan (techlover1)

I am happy for Samsung (galaxy s3) great (record) sales!,so compliments for Samsung (SGS 3).one because I have one,and two and more important,is because I am a great techlover and SGS3 generally is a really great smartphone.but Samsung is still must have to do more and more better,if they like us,really want that the S line must be the really totally best of all,and that finally the general people will all know that galaxy s line is truly better than the apple iphone’s.first they must start to work more seriously,because just to mention it,I have problems with the body,and with a very important think for me,that is the Micro SD card (at suddenly it just stops to accept the SDXC 64GB memory card!),and I don’t know why and what to do!!!.and the other thing/s,Samsung if like us want to really be the best of all,it must stop to make limitations in there flagship,(for example),the SGS 3 it was like a must to have at least three more things in it!,1 is the upgrading of the Camera,at least to 10MP or 12MP!,2 is the RAM (of int version) at least to 2GB!,and 3,the comedy of the wireless charging,because it’s not truly that!.so Samsung really must do a lot more,to be the really greatest!.and more than ever now we have the LG that is doing a really great job,now with it’s incredible spec list!!!!!!,the LG Optimus G,that I wanted those specs in the SGS 3!!!.so for the next flagship smartphone from Samsung (the SGS 4),I expect something really outstanding/spectacular!!!.so come on Samsung do it really really right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Technologov

For sure Galaxy SIII is best seller. T-mobile lacks any other flagships, the iPhone, Lumia 920, HTC ONE X+,…
Galaxy SIII is their only hope to lure high-end (rich) customers. Even if they had those other flagships, the Galaxy SIII would make a killing, but now it is the only game in town.

Dakota

I bet if they had offered it at 199 like everyone else, they would have sold more

Kudos to Samsung on this. Only device I see being able to top it possibly would be the iPhone once T-Mobile finally starts carrying it..

gnd

To big. Waiting for the mini that will be announced next week. Or a Win8 phone. Depends on how much longer my Vibrant holds out.

Nd5

Well gee, probably the One X+… Oh wait! We aren’t getting that.

mrmerk05

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Anon

Yeah that’s nice. Only cause all the other phones aren’t flagship phones. Smh. After the one x + mishap I’m leaving. At some point it’s not about saving money it’s about the devices. Believe me I,love saving money but I also love having cool phones. And the sg3 to me is a child’s phone. The interface sucks. Looks like a kiddy phone and the build is plasticky.

Rodger

I dont think Samsung will care if you dont buy their phones, im glad one less mooron purchase this incredible phone.

Whitney

That because that is only high end phone they have at the moment

frigadroid

Exactly plus the timing was right for people who were eligible to upgrade from the vibrant. The vibrant was another big seller for tmo due to poor selection at the time. Now will the new management understand that even though their challenger plan is to go back to their roots as the king of low end prepaid, they still have a lot of long term loyal customers who are chomping at the bit for top tier devices from all manufacturers. I doubt it :-(

Ulysses Geist

Sadly you mention the vibrant. It was the samsung vibrant and samsung sidekick 4g that put me off samsung forever. The vibrant’s instability and never fixed GPS, and the sidekick’s constant crashing and need for battery pulls made them maddening to use. I cursed the samsung logo every time I watched the phone reboot. I have had plenty of androids in my house and both of those sucked so bad I had a lifetime of sucky samsungs. I don’t care how great they become, their sales won’t rise because of me.

frigadroid

I hear ya I got samsunged too and I’ve done much more than my fair share of complaining about what a jip company samsung is, along with T Mobile’s inability to get that phone stabilized, & updated.
I’m still using the refurbished one they sent me when I got tired of waiting for a BS software gps fix that they lied about working on. Since I vowed to never buy samsdung again I’m really disappointed that we won’t be seeing a Nokia or HTC flagship any time soon. On the bright side I’m old & cheap so I’ll stick it out until the refarm is ready and then buy any damn phone I want.

T-Mobile iPhone 5

iPhone 5 on T-Mobile would be better! I’m not buying an SGSIII because it comes filled with useless bloatware that you can’t take off the phone!

Whiskers

Not to mention i see a constant blue tint in the screen on the SGIII when you compare it side by side to other phones .

Chris

htc one x+ but sadly that got carrier exclusive. maybe the note 2.

Banjo Pete

I’d be interested in knowing how many Galaxy Nexus are running on T-mo prepaid

nerdlust

Even thou I’m a sensation4g user and I think its a great phone but that gs3 is just a beast. I think its one of the best phones you can buy. One s and x and iPhone5 are all nice but no match.

Blaq

would have been a favorite for me too if it wasnt announced a few days after i bought my galaxy s2. T-mobile should have a program where if a phone comes out within 30 days of your purchase, it can be traded in.

MisterBlue

Not surprising. Tmobile doesn’t have anything else high end. No HTC One X (or X+), No Lumia 920, no iPhone, nothing from Motorola or Sony, no Nexus. Also, the Tmobile branded phones have become a joke. It’s becoming harder and harder to tell the difference between a prepaid carrier and Tmobile.

MadJoe

Well, kind of hard for it not to be with the pathetic lineup they have.

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